TOURNAMENT OF MINDS (TOM)
Posted CGGS Newsletter 32 - 31 October 2008
Honours for Tournament of Minds Team at Australasian Pacific Finals
Congratulations to Lucy Cassella, Allegra Fenton-Menzies, Nadia Kong, Charlotte Strong, Anika Piira, Erika Roberts and Maeve Moore who were awarded Tournament Honours at the Australasian Pacific Finals of Tournament of Minds in Melbourne last weekend. These students represented the ACT in the Social Science discipline and performed a very creative solution to the challenge ‘Dream On’.
The summary of this challenge is as follows.
“Some men see things as they are and say why – I dream of things that never were and say why not” George Bernard Shaw
One of history’s most famous speeches about dreams is that of Martin Luther King, who had a dream that one day all people would be equal.
Do we dare to question things or is it easier just to go with the flow? Do we dare to dream? Are dreams just foolish, because we can accomplish little? We have every daydreams such as winning the lottery, marrying the ‘perfect’ partner or becoming a sporting hero? We might also have dreams where we can see benefits for others such as an end to war, pollution and injustice.
When we do voice our dreams, why is it that some people criticise? Are they just pessimists or can they see something we can’t? During three hours, the teams had to create a dream and explore the path taken as they attempt to see if it can be fulfilled, facing adversity and opposition along the way.
The CGGS Social Science team’s solution explored a dream where positive emotions over-ruled the negative emotions of greed and envy in order to make the world a better place.
The Language Literature team can also be proud of their creative solution to the challenge where a group of people had an historical claim to a specific group of words in the English language. Other people were being charged for using five particular words in the English language due to intellectual property rights. The team had to create five words for a new dictionary and provide an explanation for the words that they would replace. Phyllida Behm, Matilda Millar-Carton, Melissa Monroe, Sarah Fraser, Charlotte Baillie, Georgia Connery and Jemima Millar-Carton represented the ACT in the Language Literature discipline and can be very proud of their endeavours.
This year in excess of 50,000 students from Australia, Singapore and New Zealand have participated in Tournament of Minds, culminating in the final teams to represent their state, territory or country in Melbourne. Congratulations to the two teams from CGGS who proudly represented the ACT and to the Social Science team for their remarkable achievement.
Jillian Shaw
Tournament of Minds Coordinator
Posted CGGS Newsletter 28 - 19 September 2008
Junior School TOM Teams to Represent ACT in Australasian/Pacific Finals
Congratulations to the Language Literature and Social Science teams who both achieved first place in each of their disciplines, at the Territory Finals of Tournament of Minds at the Australian National University on Sunday. This is a remarkable achievement as the competition at the Territory level is very strong.
The Language Literature team consisted of Phyllida Behm, Matilda Millar-Carton, Melissa Monroe, Georgia Connery, Charlotte Baillie, Jemima Millar-Carton and Sarah Fraser. The Social Science team consisted of Lucy Cassella, Allegra Fenton-Menzies, Nadia Kong, Charlotte Strong, Anika Piira, Erika Roberts and Maeve Moore. At the Presentation Ceremony both teams were awarded the perpetual shield for their respective divisions, an engraved glass trophy for the School, and individual medals and certificates. The teams now have the honour of representing the ACT in the Primary Language Literature and Social Science Divisions at the Australasian/Pacific finals to be held in Melbourne on 24 October 2008.
The students in these teams have had a demanding term with many hours spent outside of school thinking, problem solving, writing, constructing and performing. New friendships have been forged and new skills have been developed. Tournament of Minds, just by its nature, demands particular skills such as cooperative learning, teamwork, appreciation of self and others, risk taking and divergent thinking.
On Saturday 24 October, the teams will be given new three hour challenges to solve. They will be placed in a room for three hours to read and discuss the problem before writing a solution. At the end of the three hours, the solution will be performed for the audience and judges. A spontaneous or ‘on the spot’ challenge will also be presented to the students on the day.
Good Luck!
Jillian Smith
Tournament of Minds Coordinator
Please click here to return to CGGS Newsletter 28 - 19 Septemebr 2008
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